Ore-concentrating table



N0. 62|,5l5- Patented Mar. 2|, I899.

F. L. BARTLETT;

ORE CONCENTBATING TABLE.

J-" (Application filed Nov. 27, 1897.)

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(Application filed Nov. 27, 1897.) (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

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'NITED STATES PATENT ORE-CONCENTRATING TABLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 621,515, dated March21, 1899. A Application filed November 27, 1897- Serial No. 660,006. (Nomodel.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK L. BARTLETT,

a citizen of the United States, residing at gitudinally. At the sametime the moving ore is subjected to the action of a flow of water forthe purpose of removing the rocky or more worthless particles of thematerial from the more valuable or heavier particles. Such devices areoperated by cams or eccentrics and may have a bumping motion or a quickreturn motion for the purpose of throwing the material ahead. In many ofthe machines of this class hitherto used, so far as I am aware, thewater is all applied at once to the end or along the side, and it has atendency to pile up the ore and to wash the fine particles toward thetailings end, whereby much loss is incurred, the work at the same timebeing slow. Such machines in order to have much capacity need to be verylarge, as the ore traverses the table from one corner to the other in acomparatively narrow belt, whereby only a small portion of the table isdoing work.

The object of my present invention is to construct a machine which shallbe comparatively small in size, but of large capacity, doing more workon a given surface, to separate more perfectly the different minerals,saving more of the fine materials, and to make a product which will needno further separation or reconcentration. Y

My invention is illustrated in the accom panying drawings, in whichFigure 1 is a side elevation of the complete machine. Fig. 2-is an endelevation. Fig. 3 is a side view of the table. Figs. 4 and 5 are Viewsof the two ends of the same. Fig. 6 is a plan or top view of the table,and Fig. 7 is a cross-section.

The various features of my invention re side in the table B, which isconstructed with a series of shelves 0, in the present case three,extending from one end of the table to the other and being placed sothat the water and waste material will flow or may be mechanicallyconveyed from one to the other of the shelves of the series. As hereshown, the shelves are arranged side by side at descending levels, andthis construction I consider preferable. These shelves are considerablyinclined laterally, so that the water will flow across them, and asIprefer to construct them they are substantially level from end to end.The water is admitted through pipes or boxes a, placed lengthwisebeneath the upper.

shelves. Openings are provided along the upper side of each shelfconnecting with the water boxes or pipes at for delivering water acrossthe riftled surface of each shelf.

tions 61 (Z, delivering Water in the form of jets, which unite and flowin a shallow sheet across the table.

The surfaces of the shelves 0 C are grooved or corrugated longitudinallyfrom end to end, the grooves being in preferably the form ofright-angled triangles-that is to say, one of the sides of the groove isvertical, the vertical side being that from which the flow of watercomes-and the grooves extend substantially the entire length of thetable, so that they terminate at its extreme end. In order to effect acomplete separation of the heavier material from the lighter, I preferto make the area of the feed ends of these grooves much greater than thedischarge end, as will be seen in Figs. 4, 6, and 7, so that as thematerial in the grooves works down toward the discharge end of the tabletends to constantly'sift to the surface the lighter particles of thematerial, which are carried laterally across by the fiow of water. Meansare provided for conveying the overflow from the side of each shelf tothe beginning of the next shelf of the series.

As here shown, inclined spouts E E are provided along the lower edge ofeach of the two uppershelves to convey the overflow of water,

'waste, and unconcentrated material back to the upper end or beginningof the next lower table, and a' spout F, along-the lower side of Asherein shown, I provide a series of perforathe last table of the series,carries off the water and tailings from the machine.

0 represents the feed box or hopper through which the ore is fed to theupper end of the upper table, and c c are the water-pipes for supplyingthe boxes ct a, each being provided with a separate valve 19.

The concentrates are discharged into an ore-box S, Fig. 1, or othersuitable receptacle over the lower end of the table from the open end ofthe grooves O C. If the grooves carry any waste rock, it .is cut out andcaught by the conductors G G, which are held under the end of the tableby suitable guides. The inner ends of the cond uctors are open,.andwhatever material falls into them is discharged into the wasteway I andpasses off with the tailings, or it may be otherwise disposed of. Theposit-i011 of these conductors is regulated by means of the screws H H,and they are made with diagonal ends or partitions for the purpose ofcutting off or dividing the overflowing concentrates from the wastematerial. It will be seen that the farther out the cond uctors are drawnthe more grooves they will cut out and that the material coming fromthese grooves instead of falling into the oreboxes below will fall intothe conductors, and thence pass to the wasteway.

The cut-off strips J J are held against the flat end of the table andpivoted at the bottom. By swinging the upper ends of these strips adivision of the different kinds of concentrators can be made-such asleads from zinc, &c.-these separated concentrates being dropped intodifferent boxes or receptacles.

A varying number of strips is used according to the number of grades ofconcentrates desired. There may be one at the end of each shelf, as hereshown, or two or more may be used if a greater number of grades aremade.

The table E is hung to the table A of the machine by means of rods P P,adjustingnuts R B being provided for elevating and lowering the table.Motion is imparted to the table by means of a cam K on a cam-shaft S,operated by the driving-pulleys M M in the usual manner.

To operate the machine the ore is crushed and screened to proper size,and this mate rial mixed with water is allowed to flow in a steadystream through the feed-box O. The motion of the table shakes theheavier particles to the bottom of the triangular grooves. At the sametime the ore moves ahead and is subjected to the impinging flow fromthebox a. Three forces now act on the ore-namely, one to move it ahead, oneto wash it diagonally across the table, while the decreasing depth ofthe grooves has a tendency to elevate the ore to a higher level, wherebythe ligher worthless material is brought to the surface and washed overby the flow of water.

I have discovered that a groove made in.

the form of a right-angled triangle or with one side vertical is moreeffective than any other for the saving and protection of thefinely-divided ore or slimes, and I prefer this form of groove to anyother.

The first shelf is so constructed that the area of the grooves at thefeed end is four times as large as at the discharge end, and it is thusevident that only one-fourth of the material will be discharged over thedischarge end. The next shelf below is graded one to six and the thirdone to eight, these having been found in my practice to give the bestresults, although it is evident that the grad uation of the groovesshould depend on the nature of the ore to be treated. Thus if the ore tobe treated consists of one part valuable material and three parts rockor worthless m aterial then one to four would be the proper graduationof the grooves.

. In practice I have found that the greater part of the valuable mineralis removed by the first shelf, leaving very little for the succeedingshelves to do. Any ore which escapes the first shelf is collected andreturned to the second and third, and consequently there are nomiddlings or half-concentrated material to be rerun. By returning theore to the head of each succeeding shelf it ismade to pass over a greatlength of shelfas, for instance, if the table is eight feet long byreturning twice or using three shelves the ore travels twenty-four feet,and the eight-foot table becomes as effective as the old twentyfour-foottable of Rittenger. In practice it is found that the shelves need not bemore than twelve inches wide by seven or eight feet in length, thecapacity of the table of this size being greater than the old Rittengertabletwelve feet wide by twen ty-four feet in length.

The sliding conductors G and the cut-off strips J J perform a valuableservice by cutting out and removing any waste which flows over the endof the table and renders the machine more adjustable and automatic. Thisis particularly the case when working on an ore which contains two. ormore minerals which it is desired to save separately by means ofseparate shelves. Three different minerals may be saved separately onefrom the other, a very small difference in the gravity being sufficientto effect a complete separation.

The machine is capable of great adjustability by regulating the flow ofwater on each shelf, and by raising or lowering the sides or ends of thetable laterally or longitudinally very fine or very coarse material maybe operated on at will and the capacity regulated with great facility.If the first shelf is forced, the second or third shelf immediatelytakes up the surplus, and effective work is still performed. As littlewater is used on the first shelf, it follows that less slimes or fineore is lost, and in practice it is found that the first shelf takes upthe finer ores, which is exactly the reverse of tables where all thewater has to be applied at once. After the fine particles of ore areremoved on the upper shelf and the material conveyed back to thebeginning of the next shelf an increased flow of water owing to therapid vibration of the table is v may be safely used, sufficient toremove the heavy waste, as there is then no danger of washing away finerich ore. The advantage of having the riffles extend the full length ofthe table consistsin the fact that much betfor protection is given tothe fine ore, which kept below the coarser parts and will protect themfrom being washed away by the water, as would be the case on a planesurface. By reason of the operation of my series of shelves and thefactthat they carry the separation of the material so far I am enabledto do away with the operation of sizing, this work all being done by theshaking-table itself.

WVhile I here show my table as being provided with rililes of varyingdepth, it is evident that any desired form of riffles may be used.

WVhat I claim is 1. The herein-described longitudinally-reciprocatingshaking-table having a series of laterally-inclined shelves providedwith longitudinal riffles extending to the concentrates discharge endthereof whereby the concentrated material is discharged at the end ofeach shelf, a separate water-supply for each.

shelf and means for conveying the unconcentrated material from eachshelf except the last to the next shelf in the series.

2. The herein-described longitudinally-reciprocating shaking-tablehaving a series of laterally-inclined shelves arranged at descendinglevels and provided with longitudinal riffles extending to theconcentrates-discharge end thereof whereby the concentrated material isdischarged at the end of each shelf, a separate water-supply for eachshelf and means for conveying the unconcentrated material from eachshelf except the last to the beginning of the next shelf below.

The herein-describedlongitudinally-reciprocating shaking-table having aseries of laterally inclined shelves arranged at desoending levels andprovided with longitudinal riffies extending to theconcentrates-discharge end thereof, a separate water-supply for eachshelf and aspout extending along the lower side of each of the uppershelves except the last for delivering the unconcentrated ma terial tothe upper side of the next shelf below.

4. The herein-described longitudinally-reciprocating shaking-tablehaving a series of laterally-inclined shelves arranged side by side atdescending levels and provided with longitudinal riffles extending tothe concentrates-discharge end thereof, a water-supply for each shelfand a spout extending along the lower side of each of the upper shelvesexcept the last for delivering the unconcentrated maries of slidingconductors under the discharge end of the table with diagonal partitionstherein for cutting off waste material and cut-01f strips pivotedagainst the end of the table for separating the concentrates intodifferent grades.

7. In an ore-concentrator, the combination with a reciprocatingshaking-table having a series of laterally-inclined shelves eachprovided with riffles extending in the direction of the reciprocation,an independent watersupply for each shelf adapted to deliver water-jetsacross said ri'ffles and means for conveying the unconcentrated materialfrom the lower side of each of the upper shelves to the next lowershelf.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

FRANK L. BARTLETT.

Witnesses:

J. E. KEEFE, W. B. WHITE, Jr.

